My nearly 7yo DD still can't read but is otherwise very bright - is she dyslexic?

jellyhead

Mics_chick wrote: »

We have tried to help her at home but she often refuses to let us help her

I did go into school one morning a week for a term to try to help her but if anything I thought it just distracted her that I was there - she would sit on my knee and suck her thumb.

At the moment I just get her to sound out simple words when the opportunity arises coz that seems to suit her more - she's less likely to complain about it

Awww, they're still so young in year 2 aren't they - I often want to cuddle some of them and let them listen to a story instead of ploughing through boring, difficult work.

I've never volunteered in a class with my own child, he'd just want me to help him. As part of a course the course ran I spent an hour in reception with my own child this year though, and he cried buckets when I left Youngest was very resistant to us helping him at home, screaming when we tried to teach him to read, and he wouldn't even pick up a pencil. He's responded to a TA he likes though and is learning to read and write, but much slower than the others. It's not lack of effort on our part, he just hates the pressure, he wants home life to be relatively free of forced learning.

Is she sounding out words like net, fox etc? My son has an alphabet poster with easy-ish words. He never wants to learn the alphabet, but I found that blue tacking it to his wardrobe door means he looks at it and talks about it of his own accord when he wakes up in the morning. So many of them have 'ice cream' for 'i' though, which is difficult. 'igloo' is easier.

Does your school do jolly phonics? It's where they learn the sounds by doing an action at the same time. Everyone on my course raves about it, but they don't do it at my school. The only one I can think of is 'a', they do little jumps up their arm as if an ant is crawling on them. lovely

It may be worth asking the teacher if that kind of thing would help. I was just about to buy workbooks and try to teach it to my youngest, but then it 'clicked' for him so I didn't want to go against what the school were teaching him.

Mojisola

Mics_chick wrote: »

I have always wondered if she is dyslexic coz in other ways she is a bright observant child but the school is quite dismissive about it and it worries me.

This would worry me because if the school isn't accepting that there is a problem, they won't do anything about it. They should be giving her some extra attention and trying other methods of teaching with her.

There are lots of different ways of learning letters and reading and any decent teacher will use whatever is best for each child, particularly if one is having trouble.

With the benefit of hindsight, I would have had my son tested privately as soon as we were sure he was having problems.

My son's Infant School wouldn't accept there was a problem and he was in Year 5 before the Junior School did anything about his reading. He spent Yr 4 and some of Yr 5 in a slow-learners group despite being able to hold conversations at adult level about many subjects! It took a lot of visits to the school before he was assessed by the Ed Psychologist, after which the Head apologised personally to me and said that DS probably had the highest IQ of anyone in the school, including the teachers. The SENCO was moved to other duties in the school. The Ed Psych said it had taken so long to be dealt with because DS was well-behaved and tried really hard in school and that it was a pity he hadn't screamed and shouted and thrown things around in school!

We were lucky in having an optician who was interested in dyslexia and she tested him with coloured overlays, found one which helped and he had glasses with that tint. He had to have glasses because he used a pink overlay which the teacher kept taking off him. She said she'd had another child who needed one and she'd used yellow so she made DS use yellow which actually made things worse! There are some teachers who just shouldn't be in the job.

By the way - advice about testing for dyslexia is given assuming that you have had your DD's eyesight and hearing checked. It's best to eliminate any problems in those areas before looking for other reasons.

travelgran

Don't get too hung up on the Ed Psych bit. Many schools, including Primary schools, have teachers and TAs who have undergone rigorous training to gain the Certificate or Diploma in teaching children with SpLD (Specific Learning Difficulties) at the different levels - and no I'm not talking about a 1-day course - more like a year part time with lots of assessment!

It's not so much the label that is important it's the method of teaching and this can be incorporated into class and small group work, especially at the less extreme end of the spectrum.

So you could find out if anyone, more likely the senco, at the school is qualified. If so they can test individual areas eg identifying differences in similarly written words eg stop, pots, post and teach or advise on ways to remedy difficulties.
Some Leas have support teachers who cover a number of schools to help identify and advise. Check your LEA website in the Special Needs section.

By the way you do not need an official 'label' for exam dispensations eg extra time, at secondary exam levels. The school can do that. If a report is needed they can either use a qualified member of their own staff, a teacher from the support team, an Ed Psych or buy one in privately.

Schools do have funding to cater for 'special needs', indeed to move towards statementing there is an expectation that schools will have already done a lot from their own resources before asking for additional funds. Some schools are better at this than others!

Lastly for parental support, there is a lot of information on the web (again some better than others) and you could find out if there is a local branch of the British Dyslexia Association - try asking at the library.

Sorry if the post is too long - it's 'big' subject.

Mics_chick

Thanks for all the help :beer:
Looks like I'm gonna be busy on t'internet

xxdeebeexx

Irlen syndrome

Both of my boys are dyslexic and they found the coloured overlays brilliant. There is a shiny side and a matt side and you can 'mix' the colours by taping 2 rulers together

I bought Eye level reading rulers from crossbow education, mixed pack (to see which colour suits best) link here . If you scroll to the bottom of the page, from the link, it gives you the info you need. The best £9 I have ever spent. The colours that DS1 didn't need were donated to the SEN department at their school so other children could benefit. The school then explored using them and and bought their own ones.

Good luck

Dx

jellyhead

Those rulers are such a good idea!

there's a link here http://irlen.com/index.php where you can select the background colour, to see which one you prefer. yellow's my favourite.